From his grandparents’ roots in Mauban and Perez, Quezon, a Filipino student has joined the crop of technology achievers.
Carl Vincent Camilon Cuyos, 18, represented the Oxnard High School (OHS)-University of California Santa Barbara, as over-all winner of the 2019 State Championship in Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement-National Engineering Design Challenge (Mesa-NEDC).
It was held at the renowned University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in early May.
The triumph was focused on the design created by Cuyos. It was ably supported by Sara Centeno, research; Jenna Huynh, business; David Pulido, programmer; Nicholas Peterson, teacher and adviser.
Other nine competitors were students from UCLA, San Jose State University, California State East Bay, California State University Fresno, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Davis, San Diego State University and Imperial Valley College.
Cuyos and his team’s winning entry was Air-Quality Sensor, called Re-LAQS (Respiratory Local Air-Quality Sensor).
The sensor was invented to bring information and awareness to the public, who are vulnerable to air-quality changes, such as potential harmful gases in times of crisis.
It can be recalled, the 2018 California wildfire, was considered the deadliest and destructive season. It burned 7,100 structure, 117,000 acres, and number of people died. During the blaze, citizens received conflicting and inaccurate data. Thus, aggravated their condition, especially those with upper respiratory tract infection like asthma.
“Hence, the Re-LAQs innovation, aimed to protect 91 percent of the globe’s population, who live in polluted areas identified by the World Health Organization. To reduce air-pollution threat and health cost, people can use RE-LAQs, to measure air quality and take appropriate action,” Cuyos said.
He explained it is ready to use for indoor and outdoor. A gas sensor, it is run by a 9 voltage rechargeable battery, flashing LED alert and app compatible by the use of Bluetooth.
From June 19 to 21, the team will participate in the prestigious Mesa-NEDC USA National Championship, to be held at the University of Arizona. It will bring together the top middle and high-school Mesa teams around the US. They will showcase projects using a Human-Centered Design Approach, to develop an Arduino based solution.
Previously, the OHS topped the preliminaries at UC Santa Barbara and later won the regional championship held at UC Riverside.
Son of a registered nurse, the former Catherine Camilon, Cuyos is an upcoming university grant student of the University of California SantaCruz, to pursue a Bachelor of Science major in Robotics Engineering.
“I am proud of my apo [grandson] and the team’s achievement. May they continue to be an instrument for a better environment and a wonderful world,” said Esperanza Camilon, a retired school teacher in Perez, Quezon.
